In English

LapCI ry in English

The word LapCI pronounced as [lahpsee] means ‘a child’ in Finnish. The capital letters ‘C’ and ‘I’ come naturally from Cochlear Implant – that is ‘sisäkorvaistute’ in Finnish (shortened as SI or CI). The little ‘ry’ in the end stands for registered association.

LapCI ry was founded in 1999 by a group of parents. The aim is to support CI-children and their families throughout Finland. All the action start from the parents and the children themselves.

LapCI ry’s Most Important Objectives

To empower CI-children and their families by creating a nationwide network

To share effective information and knowledge-based experiences about cochlear implantation of children. To share experiences about life with a CI in different stages after the operation.

To share experiences, wishes, expectations and downsides of life with a CI

Active lobbying in the development of children’s daycare and school options

To support those families who are considering CI-operation by sharing information and connecting them to families who already have the experience.

CIsu-paja – Empowerment Workshops

LapCI ry’s project CIsu-paja organises empowerment workshops for CI-children and their families. The aim is to provide opportunities for CI-children to meet each other and practice challenging subjects especially in those areas of life where CI-users might feel challenged compared to their normal hearing peers. These subjects include:

Survival in the world of the hearing peers, self-expression (courage, learning to cope alone and in groups)

Senses and development of the person as a whole

Statistics

According to the statistics which hospitals’ speech and language therapists have collected, in the end of year 2015 there were 363 children in Finland who had one or two implants. At the same time there were 841 adults using one or two CIs. Nowadays children usually get bilateral implants if their hearing condition require an implant to both ears. LapCI ry has about 180 member families, that is circa 40 % of CI-children’s families in Finland.

LapCI ry arranges about 20 different peer support events each year. There are three whole-family-weekends, three summer camps, club activities in two cities (Tampere & Helsinki), one weekend especially for families with small CI-children and occasional local meetings with families. Some events are organized together with sister associations like KLVL ry. Most LapCI-events are free of charge. There is usually a participation fee for events that last overnight. Families are welcome to ask for a fee exemption for social/economical reasons.

Organisation

The LapCI-board consist of 11 parents of CI-children living around Finland. The families of the board use various languages at home. In 2016 there is a Danish, Parsi and Swedish-speaking representation on the board. LapCI ry as an association does not take any position on communication choices of families.

In Finland there is a unique model to fund associations which work for social and healthcare issues. Funding Centre for Social Welfare and Health Organisations (STEA) offers entertaining games at many locations, Casino Helsinki and online. The profits from games are channelled to associations in the social and health care sectors. These associations are hundreds in number and they employ tens of thousands of people. The fund allocation is guided by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. In 2018, STEA funded LapCI ry with 117 000 euros.